Uber bid to buy Deliveroo hits shares in rival Just Eat.

 UberEats has put its rival Deliveroo on the menu.
Photograph: Nick Ansell/PA

Reports claim US tech giant’s Uber Eats is in talks to gobble up London-based rival $2bn food app.

Shares in Just Eat have fallen 6% following reports that Uber is in talks to buy online food service rival Deliveroo for at least $2bn (£1.5bn).

Investors in the takeaway app took fright at the prospect of Uber using Just Eat’s arch-rival as a UK platform for boosting the Uber Eats food delivery service. Just Eat shares hit a 2018 low of 664p on the news.

“They say strength in numbers can be a powerful force and so it is no surprise that Just Eat’s shares have taken a big hit on speculation that Uber is going to buy Deliveroo,” said Russ Mould, investment director at stockbroker AJ Bell.

“The combination of two competitors is the last thing Just Eat wants to hear, particularly when it is already trying to play catch up on the delivery side of its business.”

By Staff and agencies.

Full story at The Guardian.